HD Animal Kingdom - Born to Stand Out

Today's set of cards comes from Hunkydory's Animal Kingdom Kit - the set called Born to Stand Out. Here's a picture of the set.

As you can see, there are two sheets of AS (Adoreable Scoreable printed card stock) and one sheet of die cuts.  I'm calling the AS - Flamingo AS and Peacock AS.  And here's a picture of all but the first one (the first one got sent out before I finished the set):

So, I got a total of 6 cards from this set - had a little AS left over, so I put it with the matching Whopper Toppers that I have.

Card #1: 

As you can see, I made it as an aperture card.  It was pretty quick & easy - hardest part was cutting the aperture (and that wasn't bad since I could just trace the shape with a pencil).  I cut it out of the AS (adorable scoreable card stock that came in the set) first - a bit larger than I wanted the opening since I knew the frame would cover it.  Then I cut it out of the card front itself.  Next I glued the AS and frame in place (trimming the card front a little where it showed.)  I put adhesive on the focal, closed the card & slipped the focal through the aperture so it would be placed correctly.  Then I added the die cut sentiment from the set to complete the card.  Here's a view of it when closed:

Card #2:

This second card is also an aperture card - this time a tri-fold. When closed it looks like you see it in the picture above.  I used 4 die cuts from the set for this card - the focal, 2 frames, and the sentiment - and you can see all of them from the front - though not all are ON the front.  

I created the card base from a single sheet of letter-sized card stock - laid horizontally on my score board, I scored at 3 3/4" and 7 1/2".  

For this front panel, I cut a piece of plaid patterned paper (old HOTP) 3 1/2" x 8 1/4" and glued it to the card front - making sure there was plenty of glue where I intended to cut out the aperture.  After gluing the background panel in place, I decided where I wanted to cut the aperture - cutting it just slightly bigger than the opening in the frame (I used my set of nesting circle dies from Lifestyle for all of these circle cuts).  After cutting through the card front, I added my frame (from the set) around the hole.  

For the sentiment I used a circular piece cut from the next panel and inked the edges - then placed it towards the bottom & added the sentiment piece on top.  That still looked a little plain, so I added some gold leaf die cuts to mimic those in the focal.  (Cutting dies are from Card Making Magic's A5 Card & Box set of dies.)

Inside #1:

As we open the first flap, we see the above.  This time the background paper is something I printed from a freebie download - once again cut a bit smaller than the panel itself.  I cut a larger circle out of it than I did of the card base, so I would create the look of a white mat around the framed focal.  After adding the gold frame, I added a sentiment I printed on my computer.

Inside #3:

This time I just cut through the background paper - not the entire card (once again cutting the background paper smaller than the panel itself to create a white border.  Again I cut the hole in the background paper a bit larger than the focal so it would like like a white mat around it.  After gluing the paper & focal in place, I added another printed sentiment.

Card #3:

This card is a Z-fold card.  The beautiful card front is cut from the peacock AS.  I inked a stamped sentiment and added it to the card front.

Opened:

When it's opened, you see that both outside panels are cut from the peacock AS, but the inside panel is cut from patterned paper from my stash - an old HOTP print.  I printed a sentiment for the inside, and inked it before adding it to the middle panel as you see here.

Card #4:

I had printed a freebie download that I thought would work for the background of this card, but the color wasn't right.  So, I added ink until I was happy with it.  As you can see, I matted the focal in it's frame using white card stock from my stash.  I also cut the word "thanks" from the white card stock using a HOTP die.  Three round embellishments adorn the upper right corner.

Inside:

Another printed sentiment - again inked - and a scrap of the inked piece used on the front complete the inside of this card.

Card #5:

Here I cut a panel from the Flamingo AS to form the main part of the card front.  I added a border strip which I stole from the coordinating Whopper Topper.  I inked a sentiment from my stash - and matted it with white before adding it here.

Inside:

A strip of the AS forms a border while another printed sentiment (that I inked) completes the inside.

Card #6:

The final card in this set is an interactive gate fold.  I used panels cut from the peacock AS for the background and then simply assembled the die cuts - making sure they each were only adhered to half of the card front.

Inside:

A panel of old HOTP paper forms the backdrop for the inside.  I added a couple pieces of white card stock - one for a border at the top from which the remaining die cuts hang, and one for a message that I'll write to the recipient (when I figure out who that is!) :D

This really was a beautiful set, and I have some pretty cards to prove it.  They also are more varied in structure than I sometimes manage, so I'm quite pleased with them.